For centuries, artists around the world have been inspired by their surroundings, producing memorable cityscapes, the urban equivalent of a landscape. Many such artistic representations, from Giovanni Paolo Pannini's dramatic portrayals of ancient Rome in the 1700s to Edward Hopper's realistic depictions of contemporary American life, have found permanent homes in the world's finest art museums and private collections.

Often referred to as "paradise" by many loyal residents and visitors, Puerto Vallarta has inspired its own share of artists over the past 60 years, some choosing to produce the occasional cityscape, others specializing in the genre, regardless of their own unique style and technique. Of this increasing collection of paintings, drawings, prints and photographs, we pay tribute to a few representative artists, at the center of which is Manuel Lepe, whose naïf depictions of Puerto Vallarta from the 1970s to his untimely death in 2002 served as a catalyst for a select group of followers, Ada Colorina and Javier Niño among them. Others, such as Evelyne Boren and Roberto Bermejo, have been galvanized by our destination, making it a featured subject in their work.

Fortunately for us, most of them can be easily found along with their work, either through the local galleries that represent them or directly at their own studios. There is no better way to keep our fair city close to our souls than treasuring such cityscapes and preserving them for generations to come.